Tag: crafts

Happy Springtime!

It’s my birthday tomorrow (32 years young!) and what better excuse to get some art supplies and new books! I got this gorgeous book The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature’s Gems and 100 Flowers from the RHS: 100 Postcards in a Box as amazing references for my artwork.

I also bought 50 Art Ideas you need to know as I love learning about the history of art and 101 Mixed Media Techniques which has loads of great ideas and things I am already trying out in my art journal pages. I think I need a new bookcase!

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While I have been busy the last few weeks, and I started trying my hand at shrink plastics, I’m still doing my embroidery and my recent project over the last two months has been beetles and bugs. I also did a bee! I got the idea after seeing some mini hoops in a craft shop and thought having them laid out like a curios cabinet would look cool!

And here are my first few beetles. I thought I would do a bigger one for variation as well. Doing these little hoops was fun and therapeutic.

I’ve been really interested in the graffiti and art in Manchester for a while and wanted to do a project photographing some of the different places for the blog. Here is a small collection in the city’s Northern Quarter, a vibrant part of the city with little independent shops and cafes. It is also home to The Craft Centre where a number of local artists make and sell items from ceramics and textiles to jewellery and prints. I love taking friends and family who come to visit. I’ve lived here for nearly 3 and half years and just love the vibrancy and creativity in the city. The Northern Quarter is also home to The Buddhist Centre which is in a lovely building and holds lots of different classes such as meditation and yoga. If you ever visit Manchester I highly recommend these places.

This is my most recent embroidery project I’ve been working on for the last two weeks and I love how it has turned out. It is the biggest and most complex piece I have made so far. I love toucans and I also love decorative and fancy designs which I tried to capture here.

I thought a nautilus was perfect for the smaller hoop and loved the patterns on the shell which I tried to recreate. I used a running stitch and split stitch for this project and I focused in on the details and colours of the threads.

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What a month I’m having! I’m in the process of moving house, busy at work and now I am coming down with the lurgie I thought I was able to avoid because I had a super human immune system! Wrong! Plus Janaury is always the long month after Christmas when you have to make your money stretch…. and I always see things I want to buy, like a desk for my new place!

I’ve wanted to try this for ages! And I admit I was frustrated at first because my creations weren’t as good as I wanted. Duh! The two owls were my first try at animals, then the bunny which I think is OK but a bit square!

Embroidering has become my newest craft obsession of late and I’ve been sketching ideas down before I begin them on the hoop. I’m really pleased with this bird and tea cup I’ve just finished – I made it for a friend and I know she will be delighted! I even covered the back with some felt to give it a nice finish.

I’ve been busy with this skull embroidery recently, which was pretty much a free hand sketch, then stitching as I went along. I really like this material, although it seemed to overpower the image a lot so I decided to fill the outside with long and short stitches.

I also got a new resource book for more advanced techniques, this adorable mini embroidery kit (which I wanted for ages) and felting! That is on my list next, I can’t wait to create super cuteness with wool!

I love trying new things to make. And once I get an idea in my brain it doesn’t really leave. So I bought a Badge It machine because I really wanted to make my own badges – and ‘professional’ ones are like £200! OMG it is so much fun. I’ve only done some of the ones that came with the kit but learning some of the design software at work means I will soon make my own cute badges! Woooo!

I am also obsessing over hearts at the moment and found this cute bundle of fabrics. I am using this for my next embroidery project. It is horrible, rainy and dark outside now so that means more time indoors making stuff!

I love embroidery hoop wall art and when I saw a small hoop in a new craft shop near me, the thought of making one burst into my brain! I wasn’t really sure what to make so just ended up using some material I had left and some cute beads, this fabric dragonfly and star.

I quite like it. I used to do a lot more sewing and things with textiles. I picked up Mollie Makes but also heard about this new magazine called Hoop-La! which is already too cute, so I got that too. Going to start some more hoops soon, I can’t wait! I also got some fabric quarters and am going to try a fabric paint and this wooden stamp for a new cushion. I really have so many projects fighting there way out my mind!!! It’s getting crazy in there!